Pride or prejudice: Are American Indian mascots right or wrong?

Thursday

Oct 17, 2013 at 8:21 AMOct 17, 2013 at 8:21 AM

By Phillip Morganpmorgan@hillsdale.netHILLSDALE - If President Obama were principal at Camden-Frontier he would be changing the school’s mascot.A long-waged debate over the appropriateness of the Redskins mascot took a controversial turn last week when the president weighed in. As the impending Redskins-Cowboys matchup stirred cultural sensitivities, Obama said the owners of Washington’s football team should consider changing their name.Meanwhile, back in Hillsdale, two teams with western-themed mascots played in a volleyball game. The Camden-Frontier Redskins defeated the Hillsdale Academy Colts in four sets.Camden-Frontier is one of about 70 high schools in the country to have adopted the Redskins as a mascot.“We’ve had the Redskins name for a while,” Superintendent Scott Riley said. “We don’t feel like we are degrading anyone.”The Michigan Department of Civil Rights saw things differently. They filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education, claiming that Native American mascots and nicknames are inherently harmful to Native children.“We read the letter to the school board,” Riley said. “We decided to wait and see what the state and the court said. There was no significant finding.”In a recent AP poll, 79% of Americans say they do not want the Washington Redskins to change their name.In 2004, the National Annenberg Election Survey asked 768 people who identified themselves as Indian, whether they found the name "Washington Redskins" offensive. Almost 90 percent said it did not bother them.Riley said a number of schools were considering mascot changes, and they actually received support from Indian tribes.“We’ve had some other districts receive letters from local tribes that said they were representing themin a positive way,” Riley said.There are 12 registered tribes in the state of Michigan, 11 more than Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio combined. Of the 60,000 American Indians that call Michigan home, 40,000 live in southeast Michigan.Sue Franklin is a member of the Sault St. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. She is also the executive director of Southeast Michigan Indians Inc., a non-profit organization that delivers services to Native Americans in Macomb, Oakland, and St. Clair counties.Franklin said many American Indians who support the Redskin mascot are not representative of real Indian communities.“A lot of people claim they are Indian and say they are not offended, and they cannot even show an enrollment card,” Franklin said.From her work in the community, she has not encountered anyone who supports the use of “Redskins” as a mascot.“Among our young people, as well as our elders, I have not come across one person who thinks it is acceptable,” Franklin said.Franklin said the name does not bring honor to Indians but rather insult, as historically a “redskin” was tied to bounties on Indians.American Indian anthropologist Jeff Chivas, of Michigan State University, explained that settlers on the east coast initially referred to native peoples who decorated themselves with red ocher as “redskins”.“Later, when Europeans started expanding and claiming land, they put bounties on native people and that is when redskins came into place,” Chivas said. “The scalp overtime became known as the redskin.”Through the years, many American Indians began using the word as a self-identifier.“They have internalized the cultural stereotypes,” Chivas said. “That has led to self-destructive behaviors and the loss of the identity.”While the precise implications of the word are debated, Webster’s dictionary defines “Redskin” as a usually offensive term for an American Indian.For Franklin it boils down to a general misrepresentation of her culture, especially in the attempt to channel warriors through athletics.“Our warriors were who they were because they loved the community, they loved the children, and they loved the elders. What does this have to do with the football? They misconstrue everything and they think we should just shut up and accept it,” Franklin said.Saginaw Chippewas’ public relations director Frank Cloutier agreed with Franklin regarding the inappropriateness of “Redskins”.“When we hear Redskins, it saddens me,” Cloutier said. “Then I instantly go to disgust.”Yet Cloutier disagrees with Franklin when she says there is a disconnect between Native American culture and football.Cloutier said names like Warriors, Braves, Seminoles, and Chippewa are appropriate symbols for athletic teams tied to an educational institution, given the proud and competitive heritage of his ancestors. That is why Central Michigan University, which uses the Chippewa as their mascot, entered into agreement with the tribe in 2003. Now Cloutier visits Central Michigan University every fall and speaks to the freshman class about Chippewa history and culture.“With a name like Chippewa, there’s an opportunity to learn and to teach,” Cloutier said.According to Cloutier, abandoning Native American symbols all together in sports is a missed opportunity for cultural exchange.The Redskin mascot, however, is culturally irredeemable.“Redskin would fall on the side of wrong,” Cloutier said. “Brave would fall on the side of right. It [Redskin] marginalizes everything. Can you imagine being a Native American at that school?”Retired Athletic Director Brad Bohner said respect has always been the aim at Camden-Frontier.“We never had mascots running around like idiots,” Bohner said. “We are in an area where a lot of things are named after American Indians. Chief Baw Beese and the tribes are looked at fondly. It’s part of the history of the place.”No matter the future of the Redskin mascot in American sports, the issue will always hinge on a tumultuous history.“They think they are honoring us,” Franklin said. “We know history, we know our own history. Find another way to honor us that is not in derogatory terms. It is unacceptable.”

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